


revelations

by changeandconstants (orphan_account)



Category: Lovecraft Country (TV)
Genre: F/F, Gen, I really did, OKAY., S01E09, Scene Extension, but episode 9?, chile i ran to my word processor, listen... i tried to resist, okay?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:47:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27089614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/changeandconstants
Summary: It's the way she said Christina's name: careful and soft, with a worn familiarity. Like it's something she's used to saying.or:Leti is tired, Tic can't believe it and Montrose knew all along.
Relationships: Christina Braithwhite/Ruby Baptiste, Letitia "Leti" Lewis & Ruby Baptiste, Ruby Baptiste/Christina Braithwhite
Comments: 10
Kudos: 114





	revelations

**Author's Note:**

> something, something, *insert james baldwin's speech about the integrity of the artist here*
> 
> wanted to get this out before the finale comes and crushes my dreams. just call me miss dummyfool!

' N _ow the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?_ '

\- **Genesis 3:1**

.

_Christina will do it for me._

Ruby's words won't stop echoing in Leti's mind. 

It was the way she said Christina's name: careful and soft, with a worn familiarity, like it was something she was used to saying. And the look on her face. Not a trace of contempt.

It was a lot, but Ruby had just rolled her eyes at the deafening silence that followed her announcement, and Leti hadn't meant to, but she'd let out a soft, "damn," clamping her mouth shut when Ruby shot her a sharp glare.

"I'm going to call Christina," is all Ruby said then, turning away and walking into the kitchen. 

Leti had wanted to follow her but the set of Ruby's jaw meant she didn't want company, so Leti let her be, instead watching Ruby pick up the phone and dial from the other room. 

Leti was too far to make out what she was saying but Ruby was speaking low and calm, and it was like she was trying not to smile. 

Leti couldn't even really grasp what the fuck was happening but the look on Ruby's face? That fond soft look she had been trying to stifle as she spoke to that white witch? Leti had seen that before, once. 

It was years and years ago, back when she was a child.

Leti was supposed to be sleeping but the book she was reading was too exciting, she hadn't wanted to stop. She did have to use the bathroom though, so she'd snuck out of bed and into the hallway.

She didn't expect anyone to be up but the light in Ruby's room was on and her door was cracked open, which was rare. Ruby usually slept in absolute darkness so Leti thought maybe she had snuck out. 

Curious, Leti entered her room, expecting to be met with an empty room, but Ruby's window was open. She thought maybe Ruby was sneaking a smoke from one of Mama's cigarettes, like she sometimes did. Leti had stuck her head out the window, expecting to catch her in the act, but Ruby wasn't smoking and she wasn't alone. 

Ruby was sitting on the stairs, with Niecy Williams, talking low and holding her hand. Leti couldn't hear what they were saying, but their heads were really close and Niecy was looking at her real strange, like she was her man or something. Ruby and Niecy were best friends but the way they were looking at each other? That was anything but friendly.

She remembers Niecy brushing a hand on Ruby's cheek and Leti had felt embarrassed, like she'd seen something she wasn't supposed to, and she'd quietly ducked back inside, cheeks hot. 

Climbing back into bed, Leti pulled the covers over her head then her bladder reminded her she needed to pee and she scurried to the bathroom. Staring at herself in the mirror, she tried to make sense of what she had seen.

Ruby was always taking care of Leti, always getting her out of trouble, but she hated when Leti followed her around or tried on her clothes or asked to hang with her and her friends. She thought Leti was trying to be grown and was always telling Leti to 'mind her own'.

Staring at herself in the mirror, Leti wished she had done just that.

See, at 11 and a half, Leticia Lewis, knew a thing or two about the world; she knew that sometimes women liked women and men liked men. She was 11, not stupid. They talked about 'those people' in the church and sometimes on the news. 

She also knew that Mr. DuBose's cousin next door wasn't really his cousin. She saw them. Leti wasn't stupid. But...this? Her own sister? 

Mama said it was wrong, the bible said it was wrong, but Ruby and Niecy hadn't looked wrong. Not at all. To Leti, it looked like love and how could that be wrong. Wasn't that what god was about anyway? Leti had never kissed anyone, never even held hands with anyone but she knew love when she saw it. Her Ma was only falling into it every 5 minutes, after all. 

Turning off the tap, Leti squinted at herself. She needed to forget this. She didn't care, she decided, if Ruby wanted to hold hands or do whatever, with girls. That was her business and she wasn't hurting anyone, even if the bible said she was. But Leti also knew that Ruby clearly hadn't wanted her to see that and if there was one thing she knew about her sister, it was that speaking on her business uninvited would result in a verbal lashing and Leti wasn't trying to cry this week, so she needed to forget. 

A couple of days later, Leti had been in her room, changing out of her school clothes when some screaming got her attention.

Her Mama was scolding Ruby, loudly. That was a big deal because Ruby hardly got into trouble. Leti snuck into the hallway and pressed her ear to the wall, eavesdropping. 

"Don't bring that sideways shit to my house," Mama said. "You hear?"

"Mama, I—"

"Ruby Noel Baptiste, I'm not playing with you. You ain't gon have your little girlfriends and live in this house." Mama hissed. "You need to be careful."

"I'm sorry, Mama, it was just the one time."

Leti had never heard Ruby sound so defeated. It made her heart ache.

Mama's voice softened. "You can't be doing this, okay? Look. I know that growing up is confusing, but baby girl, that's how the world works you can't—"

Leti never figured out what her mother was going to say because she'd bumped the side table and gotten seen. 

"Letitia, now I know you ain't eavesdropping," Mama raised her voice. "Is your room clean?" 

"No ma'am."

"Then why are you out here? Get."

Leti had raced to her room, then, and closed the door. She tried to make sense of the conversation, meaning to bring it up to Ruby later, but when Ruby came into the room she was stone-faced and withdrawn. Leti tried to soften the mood with a joke but Ruby just snapped at her and told her to ' _shut her ass up_.' 

That was the most they've ever addressed it, and sure, Leti has thought about her sister over the years; how she's doing, if she's staying safe, but she's also selfish and her own shit gets in the way, a lot of the time.

She hasn't been a very good sister, she knows this. She took after their mother, hustling and sweet talking her way into favors she knew she couldn't repay, and she hadn't meant to, but one day she looked up and realized she'd been doing it to her family, too. She'd taken and taken and taken, from Ruby. So much so that her sister had lost faith in her. She saw Leti an extension of their mother, _'just another fuck up'_ is what Ruby had called her, earlier. It hurts, remembering their old conversation but Leti pushes the pain down. 

She doesn't even feel like she has the right to question Ruby on this whole Christina slash William thing, not really, but she also knows how dangerous Christina is and she can't just let that go. Christina is a blued eyed she-devil and Leti won't watch her take advantage of her sister. Invulnerability be damned, she's not going to stand around while that bitch pulls one over on one of the only people she has in this world.

See, Leti has seen a lot of shit. In the last day alone, she's been attacked, shot at and had her world turned on its axis by the ex girlfriend of her now boyfriend(?). She's been through it. But this? 

Ruby causally dropping that she's... in a relationship? living with? That shape shifting ass bitch? Shit.

She would have said something before, but then the shooting happened and everything got messy; Dee got hurt and instead of Leti to try and understand, she went and stepped in it like she always does where Ruby is concerned. 

Leti exhales, long and loud, glancing away from Ruby in the kitchen and tuning into Tic and Montrose's conversation.

"I heard some of the girls talking about Ruby—said she was going 'round town with some white boy on her arm but I thought—"

"Those damn busy bodies." Leti interrupts. She likes her friends and they're mostly harmless, but they sure do love to gossip. "They stay telling everyone's business."   


Tic shakes his head "So it's true? And you knew."

"It's not like that, Tic."

Atticus shakes his head. "But you knew. Why didn't you say anything?"

"When would I have had the time to tell you? When those cops were trying to kill us? Or when Dee was laying here dying?"

Tic looks apologetic, "Sorry, shit, Leti, I just," he scratches his head. "Do Ruby and Christina have some sort of arrangement? Is she working for her or something?"

Leti snorts. Ruby certainly is working something.

"Boy you 'bout dumb as shit," Montrose says, eyeing Tic incredulously. 

Tic flexes his jaw, "Say that again."

Rolling her eyes, Leti puts a hand between the two idiots. "Man, do y'all ever stop?" 

"I'm just trying to understand. She said Christina will help because of her and then you tell us that Christina and William are one in the same, so now I'm just trying figure out if Ruby lost her damn mind, cause why else—"

Leti shoots Tic a warning look. "Hey. That's my sister. You watch your mouth, don't go calling her out her name, okay? You don't know the full story." 

Tic shrugs. "I'm just saying. I thought Ruby was smarter than this. How can she hang around Will—Shit. _Christina_ , when we all know who she is? And for what, a nice place to stay? Doesn't she know—"

"C'mon Tic, you really can't see it?" Montrose hits the back of his hand on the armrest, "they fucking!

"What?" Tic sputters, glancing frantically at Leti and then back at Montrose. When neither of them speak, his freezes. "No. I mean... no? She's just staying with him. Her. Ain't no way...."

  
Leti groans. For all his book smarts, Tic can be real dense sometimes. "Tic. Wisen up."

Tics eyes widen and Leti can see the realization dawning on his face as he connects the dots. 

" _Fuck._ They're really together?" 

"I don't know about all that but yeah, they're..." Leti doesn't finish, shrugs.

"So. Ruby—"

"Ruby will smack the dog shit outta you if you don't keep her name out your mouth." Ruby blows back into the room, a glare fixed firmly on her face, arms crossed. 

"Ruby!" Tic's stops talking, abashed. Leti would save him but he was shooting off his mouth; she'll let him get himself out of this one. 

"Y'all done minding my business?" Ruby folds her arms, pauses in the doorway. 

"Ruby, we were just —"

"I don't want to hear it." Ruby sighs, walks over to Dee and brushes some of her hair from her face. "Christina is on the way, let's just focus on Dee." 

"Ruby—"

"Leti, I'm not doing this right now."

Leti just stares at her, torn between pushing and letting it go. She decides to let it go. This isn't the time or place; they need to have an actual conversation and not with an audience. 

Ignoring Tic and Montrose as they look back and forth between she and and Ruby, Leti sits next to them on the couch. She reaches for the rag Ruby's using to wipe Dee's forehead. "Let me." 

Ruby hands it to her, but doesn't look at her. "I know what I'm doing, Leti "

Leti sighs. "Maybe. But that white bitch is so cunning, Ruby, you need to watch yourself."

 _"Leti."_ Ruby fixes her with a look, an old familiar one she's been using since they were kids, where she perfectly raises one eyebrow and stares her down. 

Leti suddenly feels like she's 11 again, struck stupid after getting caught stealing Ruby's makeup. 

"I just want you to be safe, Ruby." Leti insists, placing a tentative hand on her knee. "I don't want anything happening to you." 

Ruby looks up then, and Leti can see something flash in her eyes. It's a look too quick to place, but her eyes soften. "I'll be fine Leti." 

"We have to talk about this Ruby, and I mean a real talk, not them run around answers you've been giving me but, fine." Leti sighs. "If you say you're fine, I'll believe you. For now." 

"I am."

"Okay," Leti holds her gaze for a moment longer, then looks over at Dee. "So, when's your white witch getting here?"

Rolling her eyes, Ruby looks down at her watch. "Soon."

"Good. 'Cause we need to fix this," Leti leans back into the couch. 

A comfortable silence settles over the sisters, and Leti chews on a nail as she contemplates the last few hours of her life.

God. It's not even noon and already they've dealt with racist pigs and pet monsters. And now she's got to add her sister's shape shifting ass lover to the mix. 

Just what the fuck have they all gotten themselves into? 

-

**Author's Note:**

> this was written in about 3 hours, so mistakes will be fixed as I come along, i had a flash of inspiration, they bring it out in me, ha.


End file.
